Great Crested Newt were recorded in the cemetery hedgerow of the site in 2014. That the species occurs in the area is hardly surprising since Basingstoke is a hotspot for Great Crested Newt, with breeding ponds for the species known to the north, east and southeast of Sherborne St. John.

 

Working with the Newt Conservation Partnership for a number of years, we have dug five potential pond pits in the Manor Farm fields as well as creating 200m2  of additional ponds within those fields and ensuring that the wetland margins are annually flooded as they have for centuries past (19th-century OS maps show the extent of the area subject to  flooding).

 

Habitat areas have been created around three sides of the medieval fishpond, and the ponds in the gardens of Manor Farm Stables and Kingfishers improved for GCN habitat.

 

We are hugely excited to be working with the Newt Conservation Partnership and also HIWARG on this restoration project.